1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charging device for charging a secondary battery used as a power source for an electronic apparatus or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Charging devices (battery chargers) have been arranged in general to have a function of charging a secondary battery and a DC output function of supplying electric power to an apparatus or device (hereinafter referred to as a load device) connected to the charging device.
FIG. 1 shows by way of example the arrangement of the conventional charging device. Referring to FIG. 1, there are illustrated a charging device 24 arranged to charge a secondary battery 25, a DC output jack 26, a DC plug 27, a DC coupler 28, and a load device 29.
In charging the secondary battery 25, the DC plug 27 is removed from the charging device 24 before the secondary battery 25 is mounted on the charging device 24 for charging.
In supplying a DC output to the load device 29, a DC driving action is performed after the DC plug 27 is inserted into the DC output jack 26 and the DC coupler 28 is connected to the load device 29, which is an electronic apparatus or the like. The DC output of the charging device 24 supplied to the load device 29 is obtained by converting an AC input into a DC and is not supplied from the secondary battery 25. In a case where the load device 29 is to be driven by using the secondary battery 25, the secondary battery 25 is removed from the charging device 24 before the secondary battery 25 is mounted and connected to the load device 29.
However, in driving the load device 29 with the secondary battery 25 after charging the second battery 25 (hereinafter referred to as the secondary battery driving), the conventional device necessitates the operator to remove the secondary battery 25 from the charging device 24 before connecting the charging device 24 to the load device 29. Therefore, it has been difficult to promptly drive the load device 29 with the secondary battery 25 depending on the charged state of the secondary battery 25.
Further, according to the arrangement of the conventional charging device, the charged state of the secondary battery 25 is displayed by a display device (not shown) provided on the charging device 24, while, at the time of the secondary battery driving, the residual capacity of the secondary battery 25 is displayed by a display device provided on the secondary battery 25. The conventional arrangement thus has necessitated use of the two display devices.